Review: Anita Blake is back in Affliction

Affliction

Anita Blake, Book 22

Laurell K. Hamilton

Released: 02 June, 2013

Berkley, Hardcover, 576 p.

ISBN: 978-0425255704

Some zombies are raised. Others must be put down. Just ask Anita Blake.

Before now, she would have considered them merely off-putting, never dangerous. Before now, she had never heard of any of them causing human beings to perish in agony. But that’s all changed.

Micah’s estranged father lies dying, rotting away inside from some strange ailment that has his doctors whispering about “zombie disease.”

Anita makes her living off of zombies—but these aren’t the kind she knows so well. These creatures hunt in daylight, and are as fast and strong as vampires. If they bite you, you become just like them. And round and round it goes…

Where will it stop?

Even Anita Blake doesn’t know.

After the sheer frustration - and a whole heap of disappointment - I felt reading the last couple of Anita Blake books, I swore that I would wait for the library to get a copy before committing myself to buying it.  I was sick of all the slutty bed-hopping Anita, and I missed the Anita of old who spent her nights 'animating' zombies at the local cemeteries and solving RPIT cases.  So, I cautiously reserved my copy of Affliction, and spent the the last two days staring at it - not sure I wanted to go down the trashy rabbit hole again.  Last night I thought 'bugger that!' and grabbed the book as I headed to bed.  I finished it just before midnight, and even though I was so tired I couldn't see straight, I was glad that I hadn't given up on Anita Blake just yet.

With the release of book 22, Affliction, I feel that LKH has recaptured part of what I loved in pre-ardeur Anita.  We're back to what she knows best - zombies and vampires.  In this book we get to delve deeper into Micah's past.  We're back on the road, so thankfully we get a reprieve from a lot of the drama's that seem to swamp Anita when she's in St. Louis.  There were a few pleasant surprises.   One of my all-time favourite Anitaverse characters is back! Edward has decided to make another appearance.  Even though Death's a scary bastard, I just love him!  He makes each book he's in a little bit better I think.

I won't go into the story as the blurb on the book is pretty much self explanatory, but I will say that there are a few interesting twists that I wasn't prepared for... dum dum da dum... :-D  However, it goes to show you that even though you've followed a character for 20 years, both they and the author can still surprise you!

Oh, and for those RAZ fans out there - he only rates a brief footnote in this books proceedings... sorry.

So, after more than a few years of pure salacious trashy erotica (I don't know what else to call it?), I'm happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised with Affliction.  Having less of the unnecessary sex that has plagued the more recent offerings was such a relief - I didn't have to skip pages!  I am actually going to tentatively add Anita Blake back to my standing order list.  Finger's cross it just gets better from here.